CHICAGO (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from various wire reports each morning:

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (FOX) - Jason Bateman (of the upcoming "The Jake Effect") has signed on for the lead role in the FOX comedy pilot where he will play Michael, a straight-laced man who must take over his family business when his father goes to jail. Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, David Nevins and Mitch Hurwitz are the executive producers.

FUTURE TENSE (NBC) - Christopher Titus ("Titus") is set as the lead in the science fiction drama, which revolves around an elite law enforcement unit in the future. Titus previously had been attached to different NBC project (via the Greenblatt Janollari Studio) as a cop who gets railroaded off the police force and then becomes a bounty hunter. The untitled project never got off the ground.

HEROINE (FOX) - Shawn Reaves ("Auto Focus") has joined the cast of the drama, where he'll portray the brother of the central character (Eliza Dushku), a woman who graduates from college and discovers that she's able to save lives by changing the course of events.

HOPE & FAITH (ABC) - Faith Ford ("Murphy Brown") is set as one of the leads in the ABC comedy pilot. Ford will play a wife and mom of three, whose life is turned upside down when her fraternal twin sister Faith, a struggling actress, moves in.

MERGE (LIFETIME, New!) - Lifetime has tapped Lisa Rinna to host a pilot for a new reality series which aims to come to the rescue of newly married couples who are trying to decide which of their personal possessions they should trash or stash in their new household. Dalaklis McKeown Entertainment ("Weddings of a Lifetime") will produce the series, with Chuck Dalaklis and Theresa McKeown executive producing.

MY LIFE WITH MEN (ABC) - Wendie Malick ("Just Shoot Me") will play a wife-mom-feminist raising a houseful of men in the ABC comedy pilot.

PLATONICALLY INCORRECT (ABC) - Tom Everett Scott ("Philly") has been set as the male lead in the ABC comedy pilot. The comedy revolves around a man (Scott) and a woman (yet to be cast) who work together as co-hosts of a "Trading Spaces"-type cable access show and are best friends but have kept things strictly platonic.

STILL LIFE (FOX) - David Keith ("High Incident") has signed on to star in the FOX drama pilot.

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU (A.K.A. UNTITLED TIM DOYLE PROJECT) (NBC) - Annie Potts has been cast in the Peacock comedy pilot.

UNTITLED J.A.G. PROJECT (CBS) - Mark Harmon ("Chicago Hope," "St. Elsewhere") has nabbed the lead in CBS' untitled "J.A.G." spin-off, centering on Navy criminal investigation. An upcoming episode of the Tuesday drama will serve as the pilot for the series, similar to "C.S.I.: Miami's" backdoor pilot episode of "C.S.I." last season.